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Men’s Health Across the Lifespan: Post Traumatic Growth and Gender Role in Male Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse
No full textBackground:Due to societal stereotypes around masculinity (i.e. men should be strong and able to physically resist an offender), male survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA) frequently experience sexuality and gender role crises, as they tend to blame themselves for not protecting themselves. The negative effects on male and female survivors of sexual abuse are well documented. There is some evidence to suggest that female survivors may experience post traumatic growth (PTG) although less is known regarding male survivors and PTG.Aims:To explore the PTG processes involved in the development of positive gender roles and sexuality in male survivors of CSA.Method:Recruitment through national male survivor support organisations and social media resulted in a sample of 12 participants from the UK, EU and USA. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted, transcribed and analysed using social constructionist thematic analysis.Results:The parallel processes of “struggling and changing” and “developing and growing” were evident in the PTG journeys of participants. Eight subthemes were developed relating to gender role redevelopment to illustrate the experienced positive change: “Turning point,” “Redefining masculinity and sexuality,” “Reconnecting,” “Determination,” “Appreciation of life,” “Living by masculine values,” “Attunement” and “Stronger person” in the context of a central “environmental” theme.Conclusions:This study has provided much-needed empirical support for the development of positive gender role and sexuality following CSA and has enabled conceptualisation of PTG in male survivors
Spatiotemporal hydroclimatic characteristics of arid and semi-arid river basin under climate change: a case study of Iraq
No full textClimate change has potential effects on future hydrologic characteristics of arid and semi-arid river basins. The Lesser Zab River in Iraq was selected as a representative example of arid and semi-aird river basin. In this paper, the minimum and maximum temperatures (Tmin and Tmax) and precipitation (Pcp) for Lesser Zab Basin (LZB) were projected using Long Ashton Research Station-Weather Generator (LARS-WG) considering three future periods P1 (2021–2040), P2 (2041–2060), and P3 (2061–2080) under five global climate models (GCMs) and three representative concentration pathways (RCPs 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5). The projected weather variables were inserted into the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) for the same scenarios and future periods. The results showed that LZB is expected to suffer from hot weather and drought by end of P3 due to an increase in Tmin by 16.78, 27.9, and 44.05%; an increase in Tmax by 8.4, 13.67 and 21.5%; and a decrease in Pcp by 0.07, 5.26, and 5.31%, under RCPs 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5, respectively. Moreover, the projected evapotranspiration also tended to increase by 5.52, 8.37, and 12.61% under RCPs 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5, respectively. Consequently, the projected streamflow of LZB is expected to decrease by 16.7, 27.15, and 31.23% under RCPs 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5, respectively. The paper introduced novel findings based on LARS-WG and SWAT simulations that contribute to a better understanding of future climate and hydrologic trends in arid and semi-arid river basins. The study outcomes assist sustainable management of water resources and decision-making process involved in climate change adaptation policies
An Improved Dynamic Modelling for Exploring Ball Bearing Vibrations from Time-varying Oil Film
No full textBearings are key components in rotating machinery, which is widely used in many fields, such as CNC machines, wind turbines and induction machines. The increasingly harsh operation environment can lead to wear and tear on raceways and reduce the precision and reliability of bearing or even machinery. Lubrication could relieve the wear to some degree, which is benefit to prolong the bearing’s life. Thus, investigation on the vibration responses under the influence of oil film is of great significance. However, for mechanism analysis, how to include the oil film into the bearing dynamic model affects the result and efficiency of solution. To address this problem, this study proposed a fast algorithm through load distribution and interpolation when calculating oil film stiffness and thickness during the solution of bearing vibration model. Analysis of oil film on vibration is carried out and a bearing test rig is designed to verify the proposed model. Numerical simulation result shows that rotational speed and load have vital effect on oil film and vibration, and oil film can play a role of shock absorption. The experimental result is consistent with the simulation, which shows that the proposed model has a better performance on modeling bearing vibration and the method of considering oil film is reasonable
Quantum computing and quantum machine learning classification – a survey
No full textThe rapid development of machine learning technology leads to make the devices in the industries working autonomously. However, the growth of sensors in the industries leads to produce vast data that is utilized by machine learning algorithms to improve the autonomous devices’ performances. However, classical ML algorithms and hardware systems cannot process large data to meet real-time problems. Hence, the researchers have developed Quantum Computing hardware systems and Quantum Machine learning algorithms to speed up the process. This research work presented the review of quantum computing mechanisms and QML algorithms that are applied to classify the images. This work demonstrated the performance comparison of various QML algorithms. It showed that the images are classified using various QML algorithms faster than classical ML algorithms in terms of time
Forgiveness and mental wellbeing: A transnational comparison
No full textForgiveness and mental wellbeing were investigated amongst British-European and Nigerian-African samples to compare and determine; (a) similarities and differences in dispositional forgiveness levels between the two populations conducted in terms of their general samples, gender, and age. (b) the difference in mental well-being scores between the two samples. Finally, (c) the relationship between forgiveness and mental wellbeing in both groups.The Bolton Forgiveness Scale (BFS) and the Short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale were administered to participants (Nigerian n = 1164, British n = 855). SPSS was used to analyse data; a series of t-test were conducted, Eta squared and Z-value were calculated to determine the magnitude of each significant difference between variables and the magnitude of the difference in the correlation coefficient between variables respectively.Statistically significant results suggested significant differences in the way and manner dispositional forgiveness is conceptualised and practised within one group relative to the other, whereas non-significant results indicated similarities in forgiveness opinions and practises between the two groups. Overall British sample, men, and those aged 36 to 55, reported higher levels of forgiveness than their Nigerian counterparts. However, Nigerians under the age of 35 reported higher levels of forgiveness than their British counterparts, and there was no statistically significant difference between the forgiveness levels of British and Nigerian women. Furthermore, the British total sample, men, and women, all had higher wellbeing scores than their Nigerian counterparts.Forgiveness varies according to culture. The findings of the current study suggest that the individualistic/collectivistic cultural arguments long held by some authors may not adequately explain the differences and similarities in forgiveness conceptualization and practise across cultures. As a result, research may focus on a variety of factors such as educational background, income, socioeconomic level, religion, among others. Second, consistent with previous studies, this research suggests that forgiveness is positively related to mental health and wellbeing. Finally, one of the limitations of this study is its exclusive focus on two countries, namely the United Kingdom and Nigeria. Future research could include more countries with both individualistic and collectivistic societies.This paper, which is the first to examine forgiveness and mental wellbeing in a comparative perspective between British-European and Nigerian-African samples, has made a unique contribution to the forgiveness and mental wellbeing literature and in particular, has provided a solid foundation and resources for future research of a similar nature in Africa, where little or no research had been conducted previously
The pursuit of happiness within Islam: a systematic review of two decades of research on religiosity and happiness in Islamic groups
No full textThis systematic literature review examines research on religiosity and happiness within the Muslim population. Earlier investigations predominantly focused on Christianity and happiness in Western countries and found a significant positive association. This literature review was conducted to investigate research exploring the relationship between religiosity and happiness among Muslims.A literature search identified 59 papers examining this relationship between the years 2000 and 2020. Standard quality assessment criteria were used to assess the quality of the selected papers. Each paper was scored by two independent researchers and several of the papers were excluded due to not meeting inclusion criteria or scoring below .55 in the quality assessment. Some 49 studies were included in this literature review, which found a positive correlation between happiness and religiosity within the Muslim population.Furthermore, most studies posited a significant relationship between the variables. This paper explores this suggested positive correlation further, highlights the limitations of the research, and discusses the implications of the findings
What counts as quality teaching? Diverging pathways in the dis-United Kingdom
No full textThe professional development of teachers has attracted much critical attention in each of the four nations of the United Kingdom since 2010. This chapter offers a ‘home international' comparison of policies to support the initial qualification and continuing education of teachers in the period following political devolution. A rationale is offered for cross-national comparison in this small and closely linked system. A comparison is offered of routes into teaching and the teachers' Standards in order to explicate divergent models of professionalism. By comparing policies across the Anglo-Celtic isles debate on the distinctive contribution of higher education to professional learning is enabled. Tensions are acknowledged within a policy ensemble that seeks to promote research excellence and teacher development
Use of regional computing to minimize the social big data effects
No full textSmart devices are commonly used these days, especially in smart cities, resulting in massive social media engagement and heavy workload generation. Statistics show that over 4.41 billion people will subscribe to social media by 2025, which covers the majority of the world’s population. Its versatility and enriched features allow users to upload and download large data (e.g. High Definition (HD)) videos and HD live streaming). This heavy workload overburdens the mainstream network and social media cloud, increasing the delay and costs for instant communications. To cope with the aforementioned challenges, this paper aims to minimize the social big data effects on the mainstream network and the social media cloud servers. In connection with these objectives, a survey result shows that 75% of social connections originate from the local region, and their data has no need for instant migration to the remote cloud servers. We extended the Edge/Fog computing concept to create Regional Computing (RC) for Social Media Platforms (SMP). These servers are created at the regional level. Initially, the data is stored and processed at regional computing servers and later on, in off-peak hours, migrated to the cloud servers. The initial result shows that the regional computing servers filter the content regionally and minimize the burden on the mainstream network. It also reduces the cloud server’s workload, resulting in minimal delays and costs
Creating the curriculum.
No full textIs there an ‘ideal’ primary school curriculum? Who should decide what the curriculum is? Should teachers have autonomy over how they teach? The curriculum is the heart of what teachers teach and learners learn: effective teaching is only possible with an effective curriculum. Yet in spite of its importance, there has been a crisis in curriculum that has been caused in large part by governments assuming direct control over the curriculum, assessment, and increasingly, pedagogy